IRP Track Improvements Scheduled in 2005

*** Press Release ***
December 6, 2004
Indianapolis Region and Indianapolis Raceway Park Reach Long Term Agreement

The Indianapolis Region of SCCA and the management of Indianapolis Raceway Park have reached an agreement that will ensure that SCCA racing continues at the Indianapolis road course well into the future. The serious pavement deterioration that affected the 2004 Indy Grand Prix National Races will be replaced for the 2005 season. Grady Brothers Paving, the company that just completed work on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway repaving project, is in charge of the repairs. Turn one, the oldest, and roughest pavement on the 2.5 mile, 15 turn circuit, will be replaced and broken areas at several other corners will be repaired and have curbing added.
Additionally, the agreement provides for the Indy Grand Prix National to move off of the July 4th holiday weekend beginning in 2006. The event will occur on July 2-3 in 2005, but will move to the second weekend of July in 2006. The Mothers Day Double Regional Race will open the 2005 season on May 7-8. The new agreement also opens the door for additional SCCA events to return to IRP, which was once the site of six SCCA weekends per year. This opens the possibility of Indianapolis Region again staging the Drivers School/Regional Race weekend which held a traditional spot on the SCCA calendar for years, or possibly for another SCCA region to return to IRP in the near future.

For more information, contact the Indianapolis Regional Executive, Matt Curry at [email protected] or 317-818-0769.


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Steve Linn
'92 ITA Sentra SE-R
www.indyscca.org
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...linn/ITA6b.jpg

That's great news! I had heard some rumors about it and it's good to hear something concrete. IRP's road course is a great layout and I love racing it. It should be a blast now with 1, 2, & 3 redone, some other parts of the track, and some curbing.

Very Cool! I ran there back in the early 90's the last time the track was repaved and still smooth. It was a ball to drive back then. This year's national in July sucked with the problems with the pothole in turn 1. (For the races, they made the area from Start to the exit of turn 1 a no passing zone, and all starts were single file, in order to deal with the problem.) I suspect lap times will drop about 1-2 seconds with the improvements!

IRP will be a priority project for Grady at the beginning of March. New compaction methods and equipment will be used to ensure that the course is ready for the May double regional. We will be posting pictures of the progress when work starts.

While you're at it, let us know if they do anything to the turn 7-8-9 area in the paddock area for the dragstrip and on the exit of 15 coming on to the front straightaway. Last time I drove there the paddock was so rough it shook my teeth, and the last time I instructed there, Terrence near lost his Suburban on a damp track coming on to the front straight.

IRP is the first track I ever drove on, and I would love to go back and play there again.

Thanks!

Dave

[This message has been edited by Dave Burchfield (edited December 17, 2004).]

T7 thru T9 was repaved about 3 years ago. It's VERY smooth now. The bump on the inside of 7 is still there though, just gotta hook it right http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/smile.gif
15 and 15a really haven't changed nor will they. Last time I ran thru there at a lapping event during the summer, they were pretty smooth. But there is nothing you can do about the 15a exit when it rains. The dragstrip prep chemicals just aren't designed for moisture as everyone knows. Always makes for a challenge as a pit lane worker, especially with the horrid luck we have had with weather the past few years....
I won't comment on Terrence's ability to loose any vehicle anywhere...
http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/smile.gif